


Destroyer

by Havoka



Series: here be dragons [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: D.Va the Destroyer, F/F, MekaMechanic, and there will be a happy ending, local dragon unexpectedly falls for human, lots of fluff and just a pinch of angst, stands alone from part 1 of the series btw part 1 is just how the Symmarah got established
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-03 17:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14001234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Havoka/pseuds/Havoka
Summary: Conquering and destroying entire human civilizations was easy. Why was getting one measly human to like her so hard?





	1. Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object

In another life she had ruled the earth. The Destroyer, they’d called her. With a single breath she could level a village. With a swing of her tail she could take down a mountain.

Of course, that type of power could not avoid making enemies. And so, where she could not be overpowered, The Destroyer was outwitted – the humans used her own greed to lure her into a cavern and seal her away inside a mountain. That was where she eventually perished, starving and alone. Pathetic.

A great many years of nothingness followed her death. Like a long, dreamless sleep she passed the next few centuries, unaware of all that transpired around her, including the loss of her territory to another dragon. The world evolved and changed around her as she was slowly reduced to bones, and then to dust. Slowly the fearful world crawled out from beneath the shadow of The Destroyer.

At first her soul was furious. But as the eons dragged by even that flame slowly burned out, leaving nothing but a cold, hollow emptiness behind.

With no other options she eventually resigned herself to her fate, becoming little more than an extension of the mountain that entombed her. This resignation lasted for eons more. In that span she lost most of her sentient self completely.

Then, one day, she was a child again.

Summoned by a she-dragon into the body of a human infant, The Destroyer suddenly found herself utterly helpless and at the mercy of the creature who had brought her forth. Upon reconnecting with the living world some of her old anger was reignited – but it was just as quickly soothed by the dragoness cradling her, breathing weak fire over the infant’s body to both warm it and toughen its skin like dragon hide.

It was the first time The Destroyer had ever been shown something akin to love.

The dragoness named her Hana. Or maybe that was the name of the child she had stolen for the ritual. Either way, that was her name from then on – though she was still fond of referring to herself as The Destroyer. After all, she still held immense power, so much that her essence alone transformed the human body it occupied and converted it into a body of her own desires. The body of a dragon.

The one who had summoned her called herself Satya. She was a strange woman, and an even stranger dragon. She preferred talking to pillaging and philosophizing to hunting. She didn’t even hoard all that much. Hana wasn’t surprised when she found out Satya had never had any sort of mate. She couldn’t imagine any dragon wanting to mate with someone so strange.

As she grew and matured Hana developed an interest in mating, though the dragons that passed through Satya’s territory did not interest her. They were weak little things, unfit for the lowliest of dragons, never mind Hana the Destroyer.

Satya, in keeping with her weirdness, had a thing for humans. Hana could not understand it – humans were, at best, not-very-tasty snacks. She had seen a few humans in passing that she would _maybe_ consider if not for her pride – but she was a _very_ proud dragon.

Unfortunately, mating instincts were a thing, and Hana developed those as well. During those times she could not stand to be around anyone, and so would undertake frequent long journeys to towns and villages in distant lands, keeping her distance from any and all other dragons.

One of those journeys landed her outside a village full of small houses. All were reinforced with patchwork scrap metal and guarded by a pathetic scrap fence. Hana laughed as she pushed the shoddy fence right over with a paw. “Hellooo humans!” she called as she conjured up some fire in her flame sac. “Hope you have nice things for me to add to my collection!”

Apparently the putrid little monkeys had already scattered, leaving the streets empty. “Okay, so it’s a surprise, then.” She raised her long, serrated tail. “I wonder what’s in _here!_ ”

With a single swing of her tail she took down the first building she encountered. Slashed through the middle, it caved in on itself and crumbled into a pile of rubble. Hana fanned away the dust with her wings and then began digging through the debris. All she could find were a few pieces of simple, what looked to be homemade furniture. Nothing else. “Boring!” She torched the whole mess without a second thought.

The second house she destroyed was equally barren. “Seriously? This town sucks!”

The third building she came across was small but heavily reinforced, a telltale sign that it contained something of value. “Is _this_ where you keep everything interesting in this dump?” She prowled and sniffed around it. Its walls were too thick for any scents to permeate them. “This better not be as disappointing as the first two.” She swung her tail at it. Her scales struck the metal wall with a _clang_ and bounced right off _._ “Ow!” Hana yanked her tail back and nursed it in her mouth.

The building was still standing.

“Okay then.” She spat her tail out and reared back on her hind legs. “Try _this!_ ”

She unleashed a blast of fire from her mouth, completely engulfing the tiny building. When the smoke cleared she giggled triumphantly, waiting to behold her prizes.

Instead she beheld the glowing-orange walls of the building, still wholly undisturbed. “ _What?!_ ” Hana stamped her feet in frustration. “Oh _come on!_ ”

The building had a conical, pointed roof, so there was no way she could simply land on it and crush it. She tried charging into it horns-first, but that only led to a short-term headache as her skull smacked off the wall.

There were other destructible buildings around, but now this was a personal challenge to Hana. “No human building can best me. That’s why they call me _The Destroyer!_ ” She rammed her side into it, her moves growing progressively sloppier each time. Again she did no damage.

“This is stupid! Whoever built this thing is stupid!” She whomped it repeatedly with her tail. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

“You do know there’s a door, right?”

Hana whipped around. Before her stood an armored human female, tall and imposing by human standards, with long chestnut hair tied back to expose a soft face with gentle, rounded features. In one hand she wielded a giant shield, in the other some sort of weapon that wasn’t a sword – it almost more closely resembled a giant hammer. She held the shield out in front of her, but did not seem particularly intimidated by Hana’s presence.

Few humans had ever dared speak to Hana, much less mock her. “I have no use for your pathetic human doors,” Hana spat.

“Oh, okay. Well then by all means go on trying to knock those walls down. I actually am curious if you’ll make any progress with it.”

“You won’t live to see it when I do.” She lunged at the woman, her massive jaws wide open. The woman raised her shield. A mysterious blue energy radiated out from it. Hana bounced off the reflective barrier, instantly bruising her snout.

“Hey!” Hana turned away and rubbed her nose with one paw. “That hurt!”

“I didn’t make you charge me.” The girl shrugged. “But you’re really giving my test village a workout. So thanks for that.”

“’Test village’?” Hana craned her long neck and looked around. “What does that mean?”

“I’m testing out materials that are dragon-resistant. So far it looks like I’ve found a couple.” She nodded to her shield, then to the building that had foiled Hana. “But I’d appreciate it if you attacked the rest of the village, too. I need to know what works and what doesn’t.”

“Huh??” Hana struck a paw down into the dirt. “I don’t destroy things because humans _want_ me to!” She belched out another stream of fire. The girl deflected that just as easily as Hana’s attempt to eat her. “What the heck! Die!” Hana slashed at her. This time the girl swung her weapon outward. Its blunt end popped open to expose a thick chain that wrapped right around Hana’s foreleg.

With ease the girl pulled Hana forward. With one leg tied up Hana tripped and stumbled. Her chin hit the dirt road, kicking up a sea of dust.

“Oww,” Hana whined.

“Trust me, that hurts a lot less than being eaten or charred alive.” To Hana’s surprise, the girl came over and began unwrapping the chain from Hana’s leg. “I won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt me. I’m not a dragon slayer by profession.”

Hana yanked her paw away. “I don’t need your help, _human._ ”

The girl settled her hands on her hips. “Oh yeah? This chain is wrapped pretty tight.”

With a sneer, Hana shed her draconic form. Shrinking down to just slightly larger than an average human girl, smaller even than the human beside her, Hana basked momentarily in the shock of the human before shrugging her chains off with ease.

The girl withdrew her weapon and fed the chain back inside of it. Her eyes flicked up and down Hana’s new form. “I didn’t know dragons could do that.”

Hana grinned. “We can do a _lot_ of cool things.”

“But can you use a door? That’s the _real_ question here.”

“Obviously I can use a door. I just don’t _want_ to.”

“You don’t want all the cool stuff I’ve stored inside that building?”

Hana hesitated. The girl must have seen the sparkle of greed in her eyes, for she smiled and said, “You didn’t think I left it empty, did you?”

Hana was at the door in seconds. She had never used one before, but if humans could use it then surely it couldn’t be too difficult. Right?

There was a metal bulb stuck to the edge of the door. Hana grabbed it and pulled on it. Nothing happened.

“Need help?” the girl called from behind her.

“Never.” She crouched and bit down on the door bulb. It still did not yield. In frustration she whipped her head back and forth. To her surprise, the door popped open.

Hana hopped up. “See? Easy. Now give me all of that–”

The second she stepped inside the door slammed behind her. Something clicked, and then a heavy dragging sound accompanied a _thump_ against the outside of it.

“Huh? Why did it close?” Hana scratched at it. It didn’t budge.

The dread realization sunk in quickly. “No! Let me outta here you stupid human!” She threw herself against the door. “Let me out!! Let me out!!”

After several minutes of scratching and shouting Hana eventually realized she was not getting out that way. Instead she started exploring the rest of the tiny building for weak spots. It was just a simple, undecorated metal room with no windows or other doors. There was certainly _not_ any treasure.

As she paced about the room a sense of panic began to take hold within her. _I could die in here._ Why was she always so foolish? Had she learned nothing from the last time she let humans lure her in with promises of treasure? No amount of treasure in the world could preserve her life if she kept falling to her own greed like this.

With nothing else to do Hana regained her dragon form and started throwing herself against all four walls. She let out an earsplitting roar each time, shaking the ground with its volume. Eventually the roars dissolved into nothing but torn-up screams in her sore throat, more human than dragon. “Let me oooouuuuut! _Aaaaaarghhhhh!!_ ”

She leaped around screaming until finally she was too exhausted to move any more. Between the long flight and the repeated use of her high-energy-consuming fire breath, she was out of steam. She laid her head on her forepaws and curled up in a semicircle. Her tail beat half-heartedly against the ground. Tears pooled in her eyes as she let out a high-pitched whine. _I’m gonna die again._

Then the door re-opened.

“Sorry about that,” the girl said as she strolled inside, “just didn’t want you to take off before I could–”

Hana rushed the girl, knocking her to the floor. “I thought I was gonna _die_ in there!! What the heck!!”

The girl frowned up at her. “You were in there for like ten minutes.”

“Yeah, I know! It was torture!”

“Well if it makes you feel better, I was getting something for you.”

“Ohh no, I’m not falling for _that_ again. What kind of moron do you think I–”

The human held up a tiny gold sculpture. Hana’s eyes instantly fixed on it.

“This is for you.” The girl set it in Hana’s outstretched paw. “It’s a cat.”

So it was. Hana brought it to her snout and gave it a sniff. Immediately a foul metallic smell greeted her nostrils. “This isn’t gold.” She chucked it at the girl, who caught it without issue.

“I never said it was. It’s brass. I make things like this in my spare time.”

“Hmph. Who cares about _brass?_ It’s not even worth anything.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll take it back.”

“Wait, I still want it!”

The girl chuckled. “’Kay then.” She gave it back to Hana. Hana slid it in between two scale plates on her chest. “I’ll give you more stuff if you help me destroy the rest of this village.”

“Hmmm.” Hana pushed her giant face up close to the human’s much smaller one. “I _guess_ that’s a good deal for me…what else are you gonna give me?”

“You’ll have to see for yourself.”

“Fine. I will.”

* * *

 

“ _Rwaurgh!_ ” Hana crushed the fence dividing two buildings into crumpled metal. “All cower before Hana the Destroyer!”

“Hmm. So that alloy’s not gonna work.” The human girl wrote something down on a piece of paper.

Hana held a paw out and wiggled her claws expectantly. With a sigh the girl handed her something wrapped in shiny foil.

“Ooh, what’s this?”

“Chocolate. You ever had chocolate?”

“Had it?” She leaned in and gave it a sniff. “Oh, it’s food!” She tossed it into her mouth and chomped it into nothing. “Mmm, that’s good!”

“You’re not supposed to eat the wrapper…”

Hana licked at her claws. “The what now?”

“…Never mind. Just keep destroying.”

“I want more ‘chocolate’. That wasn’t enough to replenish my energy after all this pillaging.”

“For knocking over one measly fence?” The girl crossed her arms and clicked her tongue. Hana felt a funny twinge inside as she accidentally caught and held the girl’s gaze for a few seconds. “That’s from my private stash, you know.”

“I could just eat you and take it all.” Hana exposed both rows of her sharp, jagged fangs.

The human whapped her on the snout with her paper. Hana hissed and ducked back.

“Bad dragon. No eating people.”

“You’re awfully brave for a human,” Hana snarled.

“You’re awfully complaisant for a dragon.”

Hana narrowed her eyes. “You’re awfully…using words I don’t know to sound like a big…smart…person.”

The girl laughed at that. “I don’t even consider myself a bookie type. If you don’t know the word ‘complaisant’ then that’s on you.”

“Well it’s not like I went to dragon school. You humans are the ones wasting all your time learning _words._ ”

The girl collected herself, but was still smiling. After a moment’s pause she nodded, as if deciding something to herself, and said, “I like you, Hana.”

“Eh?” Hana’s tail swished. “You shouldn’t _like_ me. Humans are supposed to _fear_ me.”

“You haven’t given me any reason to be afraid of you.”

Hana coiled her tail around the human and lifted her into the air. Bringing her in close to her face she said, “ _No?_ ”

The girl reached out and petted her snout.

“Gah!” Hana dropped her. “Don’t touch me with your grimy monkey hands!” Beating her tail against the ground in irritation, she sauntered off. “That’s it. I’m _leaving.”_

“Okay. Bye.”

Hana lifted her chin and snooted. With a dramatic flash of her wings she kicked up a spray of dirt and took off into the air.

The last she heard of the human was her calling out “I’ll be here tomorrow!”

* * *

 

“And then she touched my snout and said she liked me!”

Satya’s giant tongue bathed Hana’s scales, clearing the dirt from them. Hana lay curled up against her, relaying the tale with dramatic flares of her forepaws.

“You did not eat her?” In her dragon form Satya’s voice was deep and resonant. It vibrated through Hana’s body with every word.

“I was gonna, but…”

Satya licked her cheek. “Has the mighty Destroyer perhaps developed a soft spot?”

“ _No._ ”

“Really? Seems like it.” She pulled Hana in under her massive paws and kissed the top of her head. “You know, Hana, humans as a whole are not bad. You really should have some friends your age.”

“And my _species._ ”

“You are technically a human. Have you forgotten that?”

“I’m not human. I’m a millennia-old dragon king reincarnated into the body of a human infant.”

“And what a cute little dragon-king-reincarnated-into-the-body-of-a-human-infant you were.”

Something scratched across the rocky floor deep inside the cavern. Moments later Fareeha emerged from a tunnel on all fours, with all five of her and Satya’s dragonlings clinging to her back.

“It’s the Dragon Express! Woo woo!” Fareeha crawled right past Hana and Satya, her attention entirely on the scaly little tots clinging to her armor. “Uh-oh,” she said suddenly, “there’s something on the tracks! _A-buhbuhbuhbuhbuh!_ ” She shook violently from side to side. The dragonlings squealed and hung on to her as she bucked and flung them about on her back.

“You look like a moron,” Hana said.

“I’ve long since come to terms with that.” Fareeha grabbed one of the kids off her back. “Hot potato!” She threw the dragonling at Hana. Hana caught the little monstrosity in her mouth, then tossed them up in the air. The baby giggled and squealed as Satya caught them with her tail.

Hana still didn’t like Fareeha hanging around all the time. Even after a year and a half she still wasn’t used to having to share Satya. Her human heart regarded her as a mother figure; one that, although she would never admit to it, she loved dearly. Her dragon spirit, on the contrary, regarded her as a potential mate who was _not_ to be shared. The two feelings were so confusing and contradictory that Hana usually just opted to bury them both.

“Hana met a human girl who liked her,” Satya said.

Fareeha paused her kiddie ride. “Oh yeah?” She looked to Hana, obviously expecting her to elaborate. Hana just shrugged. “You didn’t eat her?”

“She gave me stuff,” Hana mumbled.

“Huh?”

“I said she gave me stuff. Some food, and this.” She pulled the tiny brass cat sculpture from between her scales and set it down on the cavern floor.

“Is that a little cat?” Fareeha crawled over and examined it. “That’s cute!”

“What was her name, anyway?” Satya began combing through Hana’s tangles of hair. “You did not mention it.”

“I didn’t ask for it.”

“You didn’t even get her name?” Fareeha said.

“Who cares what her name was? It’s not like I’m ever gonna see her again.”

“Never again?” Satya joined in. “Really?”

“Really.” Hana pulled away from the both of them. “I’m going to sleep.” She curled up at the far end of the cave, facing the wall. “Goodnight.”

“Night.” Fareeha handed some of the kids off to Satya, who began grooming them instead of Hana.

Hana squeezed her eyes shut and uselessly willed sleep to come.

There were days she missed being a heartless tyrant.


	2. If You Give a Dragon Pie...

The next day Hana found the human girl whistling to herself in her empty little village. She was grinding something with some sort of metal blade, casting sparks all over the place and spreading a familiar, comforting smell of burning metal.

“Oh, hey.” She greeted Hana with a smile and a nod. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you again.”

Hana dug her clawed toenails into the dirt and stared down at her feet.

The girl set her tools down. “Everything all right?”

Hana kept her eyes averted.

The girl pulled her work gloves off and approached Hana cautiously. “Don’t try to torch me, all right?” She stopped just a step from Hana, and bent slightly so that she was eye level with her. “What’s up?”

Hana puffed a smoke ring and remained silent.

The girl reached hesitantly out to her. Hana did not resist. Uncertainly the girl rested her hand on the side of Hana’s face. Hana blinked a few times, but did not pull away.

“Heh, your skin is so…scaly.” The girl slid her fingers down Hana’s scales with clear intrigue.

“What did you expect?” Hana finally replied.

“Not sure.” She moved up to touch Hana’s small, backward-curved horns.

Hana drew away from her. “Why are you touching me?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” She pulled her hand back. “Sorry.”

“Satya says…” Hana trailed off to an inaudible mutter.

The girl’s eyes flicked over her face. “What?”

“Satya says I should make some friends my age,” she mumbled.

“Oh.” After a momentary pause the girl asked, “Who’s Satya?”

“My…mom. Kinda.”

“Ohh.” That earned a hearty chuckle from the human. “I know that feeling. My mom always wanted me out of the garage and out making friends, too.” She took a pointed look around at the empty village, then shrugged.

“But you’re human. Don’t you live in, like, hordes?”

“I’m not very social. Always preferred tinkering to partying.”

“I don’t blame you. I can’t stand humans, either.”

“So you’ve come here specifically to visit a human even though you can’t stand us?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m just bored.”

The girl folded her arms and smirked. “Okay.”

Hana sauntered past the girl, deeper into the village. The girl had already begun rebuilding everything Hana had smashed yesterday.

“So what’s your name, anyway?” Hana decided to ask her.

“Brigitte.” The human kept pace with her as Hana wandered through the empty village. “Brigitte Lindholm.”

“That’s the ugliest name I’ve ever heard.”

“You have the ugliest personality I’ve ever heard.”

“You don’t _hear_ a personality, dummy.”

“Really? Because with every word you speak your brattiness comes through loud and clear.”

Hana bared her teeth at her. “I could tear you limb from limb, human.”

“Okay.” Brigitte shrugged. “So what do you want to do today? Destroy more stuff?”

“Eh, it’s no fun without plundering loot and seeing the fear in the human villagers’ eyes as they flee in terror.”

“You’re a really nice person, huh?” Brigitte threw an amused glance over at Hana.

“This is nothing. They used to call me the Worldbreaker. I was huge and powerful. I could split the earth and make volcanoes erupt with a single roar.” What she did not tell Brigitte was just how far she had fallen since that era. Centuries of isolation in death had all but wiped her memory of all but the vaguest concepts of her old life. Much of what she knew of her old self was simply from hearsay Satya had relayed to her. “The world lived in fear of me…”

“What happened?”

On the surface she’d been hoping the human wouldn’t ask, but somewhere deep inside Hana found herself wanting to talk about it. Even millennia later it was still a sore spot for her.

“The humans used magic to seal me up inside a mountain. It was like a labyrinth. I got lost, and I couldn’t get un-lost. Every way I went just led me back to the start.”

“Is that why you were so upset about me locking you in the silo?”

Hana shrugged.

Brigitte sat down on a half-sawed log that Hana assumed was intended as some sort of homemade bench. “So what happened?”

“What do you _think_ happened?” Hana sat down beside her. “I _died._ Slow and agonizing.”

Brigitte’s eyes widened. “Wait, you _died?_ But then how are you–”

“Satya summoned me back to the mortal plane. She sacrificed a human infant and sealed me into her body. That’s how I was reborn.”

“Oh.” Brigitte kicked her legs idly. Then, with an irreverent shrug of her own, she said, “I was an accident.”

They sat together for a quiet few minutes. Hana looked over the village Brigitte had constructed. It seemed like an awful lot of work. Building it had probably taken her months. Maybe even years.

“Do you have any more chocolate?” she asked the girl.

“I didn’t bring any with me today. My mom baked me one of her pies, which is way better.”

“Pies?” Hana frowned. “What are pies?”

Brigitte’s eyes looked like they could bulge right out of their sockets. “You’ve never had _pie?!_ ”

The reaction immediately put Hana on the defensive. “Is it some stupid human thing?”

“It’s a _delicious_ human thing. Man, now I have to see your reaction to it.” Brigitte grabbed Hana by the wrist and pulled her to her feet. “C’mon, let’s take an early lunch.”

Hana allowed herself to be led to a tiny, unassuming house in the center of the village. Brigitte opened the front door, then all but yanked Hana inside.

The moment she set foot in the house Hana instantly picked up an interesting scent. “What’s that smell?”

Brigitte retrieved a box from a backpack sitting on a wooden table. “Does it smell like delectable fruity goodness?”

“Uhh…”

Brigitte opened the cardboard box. The smell gushed through the room, sweet with just a little bit of spice. “Oh good, it’s still warm.” She took a round silver thing out of the box and set it on the table. It was light brown on the top, and steam was escaping out of a vent sliced into the top of it. Brigitte inhaled some of that steam. “I almost don’t want to share it.”

“Share it?” Hana’s tongue flicked out between her lips, tasting the thick scent of this appealing-looking ‘pie’. “I thought you were giving it to me.”

“Heck no. You can have half.”

“But I want all of it!”

“You don’t even know if you’ll like it!”

Hana swiped it from Brigitte’s hands and, before Brigitte could do anything about it, smashed her face directly into the pie.

“Hey!” Brigitte grabbed her by the hair and jerked her head back. Hana’s face was covered in fruit filling. “That was half mine, jackass!”

“Mmm.” Hana stretched her long tongue out to lick her lips and cheeks. “That _is_ good.”

Brigitte grabbed the remnants of the pie and smushed it into Hana’s face. Hana coughed and sputtered, clawing at it until it fell off and landed face-down on the floor. “I was trying to _share_ this with you. Guess that’s above what I should have expected from a dragon.” She picked her backpack up, slung it over her shoulder and then stormed off.

At first Hana laughed, assuming she was playing around. But Brigitte slammed the door behind her and didn’t come back.

Hana licked the pie off her face and hands and waited for Brigitte to return. A long time passed. She did not return.

Hana eventually scooped the pie up off the floor and ate the rest of it out of its pan. It _was_ delicious, but it felt weirdly unsatisfying. She felt…bad. _Why do I feel bad? I’m a dragon. I’m supposed to take what I want._

The pie didn’t make her feel full. She ate the pan, too. That still didn’t help.

Hana climbed up on the table and curled up on it. She rested her chin on her wrists and stared out the window. The sky was a clear and beautiful blue, normally the kind of sky she would love to fly in. _Maybe I should just leave._

She waited for a long time, watching the clouds outside drift slowly across the sky. Conquering and destroying human civilizations was easy. Why was getting one measly human to like her so hard?

When she couldn’t wait anymore Hana finally dragged herself off the table and over to the door. Mimicking Brigitte she reached out, wrapped her claws around the knob-thing, and turned it. The door popped open. _At least she didn’t lock me in._

She wandered outside, sniffing the air for Brigitte’s scent. The girl was not immediately present. Eventually Hana took to her dragon form, stomping through the quiet little village while sniffing the air with her giant snout.

Around one corner she detected the pie smell again. _Hm?_ Her head swept over to the right. There, back on the log-bench from earlier, was Brigitte – munching on a slice of pie.

“Hey!” Hana transformed without even thinking about it. Her smaller human form tumbled into the dirt below.

Brigitte turned around. “What?” she asked through a full mouth.

“You have more pie!” Hana squeezed in beside her, but resisted the urge to grab any more of Brigitte’s food.

“Oh, yeah.” Brigitte took another big bite. “You think I didn’t plan on you hoarding the first one all to yourself?”

Hana traced circles in the dirt with her foot-claws. “I felt bad after I ate it all.”

“Well yeah, literally shoving your face into your meal is a pretty surefire way to end up with indigestion.”

“I don’t mean bad like, sick bad. I mean bad in the…in the heart. I guess.”

“Heartburn?” Brigitte was smirking.

“No. I was…sad. I think.”

“Because you found out that people get mad when you take their stuff?”

Hana shifted her weight back and forth.

To her surprise Brigitte slung an arm around her shoulders and laughed. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. My mother would be insulted if a dragon _didn’t_ want to hoard her cooking.”

Hana stiffened at the contact. No one but Satya ever touched her more than in passing. A half-faded memory flashed through her mind of her consorts in her last life, fawning over her and touching her all over. But that was a very different type of encounter.

On an impulse Hana leaned in and rested her cheek against Brigitte’s armor. The diamond hardness of it reminded her of Satya’s scales. It also reminded her, on a deeper level, of her parents from her last life, whom she could not remember by name or face. The contact was comforting.

“You okay?” Brigitte chuckled, but she was looking down at Hana with genuine concern in her eyes.

Hana pressed her face into Brigitte’s armor. To both of their surprise a few tears dribbled down onto the girl’s chest plate, so hot they evaporated nearly as soon as they made contact. “Whoa, what’s wrong?” Brigitte lifted Hana’s face with both hands. Hana refused to look at her.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m a _dragon!_ I’m supposed to kill and eat humans!”

“Eh, and humans eat dragons. That’s just life.”

“Humans don’t eat dragons.”

“Oh yeah they do. I’ve never had it, but it’s definitely a thing.”

Hana sniffled. “I don’t believe you.”

“Okay. Don’t believe me, then.”

Hana’s tears dried up almost as abruptly as they’d started, but she remained leaning against Brigitte. Brigitte sat back a little, letting Hana get comfortable against her.

“I’ve never had a human friend,” Hana mumbled.

“That’s funny. I’ve never had a dragon friend.”

“So we’re friends now?”

“I dunno. Are we?”

Hana scrunched her face up. “…I gotta talk to Satya.” She hopped off the log and regained her dragon form. Spreading her wings she said, “I’ll come back later. Maybe.”

“Wait!” Brigitte pursued her as she was mid-takeoff run. “You owe me for that pie.”

Hana slowed her pace. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Suddenly Hana felt a weight on her back. Brigitte climbed her with ease, and sat herself atop the ridged scales of Hana’s spine. “Take me flying!”

“No way! I’m not ferrying humans through the sky!”

“Yah!” Brigitte dug a booted heel into Hana’s side. Of course through her scales Hana barely felt a thing, but it was the insulting nature of the act itself that bothered her. “Okay,” she said, “you want to fly with me? You better hang on.”

Brigitte grabbed tight to Hana’s spines. “Let’s go!”

Hana resumed her takeoff run, then threw open her wings and started beating them hard. The second they left the ground Hana turned halfway, enough to rattle Brigitte but not enough to actually shake her off.

“Oh, I see how this is.” Brigitte clung on, undeterred. “If you drop me and I go splat my ghost is gonna haunt you.”

“Challenge accepted.” Hana flipped in mid-air, throwing Brigitte for a loop. Even with her respectable strength, the force of gravity and the wind as Hana righted herself was apparently too much – Brigitte’s hold slipped, and she slid off Hana’s back. But she barely had time to even start screaming before Hana had her grabbed up in the claws of her right back foot. Passing her up to her forelegs, Hana held her in her paws while she smirked down at her. “Sorry.”

Brigitte kicked at her. “Yeah, sure you are.”

She carried Brigitte in her arms the rest of the way to Satya’s cavern.

* * *

 

“Oh, aren’t you just the cutest little thing!” Satya spent an eternity fussing over Brigitte. Brigitte smiled, unfazed as usual even by the giant dragon-woman.

“Not used to being called little,” was all she said.

“I felt the same way.” Fareeha was trying to get involved in the camaraderie, but she was also trying to handle the two rambunctious little dragonesses fighting for her attention by climbing up both her legs.

Satya looked Brigitte over again. “So, ‘Brigitte’, was it?” At Brigitte’s affirming nod she continued, “You and Hana truly get along?”

“Uh, yeah. I mean, I guess?” She shrugged, then looked to Hana, who also shrugged.

Satya knitted her fingers together and smiled. “I am so happy to hear that. It has been very difficult for Hana to establish any positive social relationships, human or dragon.”

Hana folded her arms and huffed. “Satya!”

“Ha ha, Hana’s a shut-in.” Fareeha pointed at her and laughed.

“Fareeha calls Satya ‘Mommy’ sometimes.”

Fareeha gasped. “Don’t tell people that!”

Brigitte snickered.

“…So I am very pleased to see she finally has a friend,” Satya finished. She reached out and scruffed Hana’s hair.

“I can definitely see why she’s had trouble with that,” Brigitte replied. “But I’m a pretty chill person. Not much fazes me, really.”

“I feel like I’ve seen that logo on your armor before,” Fareeha said. “What’s your family name?”

“Lindholm. My father’s Torbjörn.”

“ _Torbjörn Lindholm_ is your father?? T-Torbjörn–” She held a hand up to about her waist level.

“That’s why I said I’m not used to being called little.”

“Holy crap. Wait – do you know Reinhardt Wilhelm?”

At that Brigitte lit up. “Reinhardt’s my mentor! And he’s actually my godfather, too.”

“No way!” Fareeha’s eyes were round and full of childlike enthusiasm. “I’m so jealous! Reinhardt was my idol growing up.”

“Really? To me he’s just a huge dork.” Brigitte sat down beside Fareeha. Immediately the dragonlings started investigating her. “So who’s your dad?” she asked Fareeha as she gave one of the babies a tentative pat on the head. “Is he how you know Papa and Reinhardt?”

“Oh, not my dad. My mom. Ana Amari?”

“Oh, Captain Amari! Reinhardt’s talked about her before!”

Hana watched their back-and-forth with growing contempt. Eventually she pushed her way in between the two humans. “Okay, she’s _my_ friend, not yours. You already have Satya.”

“Satya’s my girlfriend. And besides, you can have more than one friend, lizardbutt.”

Hana growled at her. Fareeha rolled her eyes.

“Hana, be civil.” Satya picked her right up and carried her away from the humans. “I apologize, Fareeha. Brigitte.”

“I’m used to it by now,” Fareeha replied with a handwave.

To Hana’s surprise, Brigitte got up and came over to sit beside Hana on the other side of the cave. Hana turned away, lying down on the rocky floor. _My life was so much easier before I had **friends.**_

“Hey.” Brigitte tapped her on the arm. “Don’t be so mopey. It’s fine.”

The contact made Hana retreat tighter into a ball. However Brigitte continued to touch her, rubbing her arm reassuringly.

“I’m a destroyer of worlds,” Hana mumbled.

“Of course you are.”

Satya took her dragon form and curled up alongside Hana. Hana did not respond to that, but when Satya started to groom her she wiggled tighter into her mother-figure’s scaly underbelly.

“So anyway, it’s been a long day.” Brigitte yawned as she climbed to her feet. “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow, Hana?”

Hana immediately sat up. “You’re leaving?”

Brigitte chuckled. “I gotta get home to my own parents!”

“Oh.”

“I’ll bring you something tomorrow. Mom probably won’t bake two more pies tonight, but I’ll have something else.”

“…Okay.” Hana retreated back into Satya’s embrace. “I’ll find you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Brigitte looked to the cavern entrance. “So, uh, I probably can’t climb down from there without falling and breaking all my bones. At least not in this armor.”

With her big dragon teeth Hana picked Brigitte up by the round metal collar of her armor and carried her to the cave’s entrance. Her wings opened as she approached the cavern mouth, and she was careful to hold Brigitte in a way that was both comfortable and safe.


	3. Only Human After All

The next time Hana saw Brigitte the human girl wasn’t wearing her armor. In fact she was wearing nothing more than a cropped sleeveless shirt and shorts.

“Hey,” Brigitte said, as casual as ever.

Without a steel shell disguising her Hana could see all of Brigitte’s muscles. She was really toned. Also without the armor Hana could much better detect her scent. It was a rich and interesting mixture of smells, like metal, grease, a little bit of sweat, and the usual adult hormones that indicated she was ready and able to mate.

“Hi.” Hana approached her uncertainly. “You don’t have your armor on.”

“Nah. I don’t think I need it.”

Hana leaned in and sniffed her. “You smell interesting.”

“Thanks?” Brigitte was already smiling again. “You smell like a toasty marshmallow. But that’s nothing new.”

Her hair had a different scent than the rest of her, Hana noticed. “Your hair smells like flowers.”

“Yeah…” She twirled a lock of it around one finger. “Felt like actually conditioning it for once.”

Hana circled curiously around her. “So what today? Destroying more stuff? Eating more food?”

“Actually, I was thinking maybe I’d take you into town and show you some human stuff. I think you’d fit in better than you realize.”

“Human town?” Hana balked. “But not to destroy stuff?”

“Yeah. Why not?”

Hana shrank back a little. “I don’t think that would be a good idea. The humans will think I’m trying to kill them. They’ll probably attack us.”

“I’ll stop them.”

“Brigitte…” Hana planted her butt on the dusty dirt road that bisected the tiny test village. She gazed up at the sky, a bit cloudy today, obscuring the sun.

Satya would tell her to use her words about her feelings. Her draconic instincts told her to either a) take off and leave Brigitte to escape this awkward situation or b) eat Brigitte.

In the end Satya’s teachings, or perhaps her own human heart, won out. “I don’t really feel comfortable with that, Brigitte,” she said.

Brigitte gazed down at her for a moment. Then she sat down beside Hana. “Okay. I get that.”

“Sorry,” Hana murmured.

“Don’t be sorry. We can hang out here.”

Hana sighed. “But it’s so boring. I’d _like_ to go see a town that isn’t destroyed…”

“Want to go to my home village? It’s not far from here, and everyone there knows me. They won’t attack you once they see you’re with me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah!” Brigitte was grinning. “And I want to see my father’s reaction to you, honestly.”

“I have to meet your dad?” Hana swallowed. Without the option to just crush and eat everyone around her, having to deal with social situations became a lot more difficult.

“Aww, he’s harmless. A little odd, but harmless.”

Hana exhaled. If Brigitte was anything to go by, her father must surely be something to fear.

“Okay, if you want me to go then I’ll go. But I can’t promise it’ll end well.”

“I have a good feeling about it.”

* * *

 

Hana had to struggle not to revert to her dragon form – her emotional maelstrom was far too tumultuous for her smaller form to handle. Regardless she held on, forcing herself up to the village gates on two legs instead of four.

“Hark!” Brigitte called as they reached the giant iron wall hiding the village from sight. “It’s Brigitte.”

A slot in the wall, just large enough for a human face, slid open. Moments later a pair of human eyes appeared behind it. “Oh, Brigitte! You’re back early.”

“I’ve come with a friend.” She guided Hana over to the human’s line of sight.

The human’s eyes went wide. “What is that??”

“I’m a dr–”

Brigitte nudged her aside. “She’s got a skin condition. It’s not contagious.”

“She’s got _horns!_ ”

“Look, it’s fine, okay? I’m vouching for it being fine.”

The human, clearly hesitant, reluctantly opened the metal gates. Hana stuck close to Brigitte as Brigitte strode inside.

The town’s buildings looked just like Brigitte’s test village. Tiny cottages sat armored from top to bottom, lining streets full of signs pointing to nearby “dragon shelters”.

“What’s a dragon shelter?” Hana whispered.

“They’re underground hideouts for dragon attacks. You’re more likely to survive if you can get to one before an attack happens.”

Hana glanced around at all the humans going about their day. “They have no idea when a dragon’s gonna just wing out of the sky and kill them all.”

“Pretty much.”

“How do you live like that?”

Brigitte shrugged. “Anything bad could happen at any time. It’s just one more thing.”

Hana avoided looking at the townsfolk after that.

“There’s my house,” Brigitte eventually said. Hana looked up to find her pointing at a tiny cottage nestled in the corner of the walled-off village.

“Wow, that looks really small.”

“It’s sturdier that way.”

“…Right.” Hana kicked at the dirt. “Less likely to get crushed by dragon feet.”

Brigitte pushed open a short iron gate and led Hana through the little front yard. It was full of wildflowers of every color, with bees and other insects flitting all about. She withdrew a key from the pouch on her waist and slipped it into the door. “I’m home!” she called as she pushed it open.

Quiet, stealthy footsteps approached them from within the house. Moments later a fluffy orange cat appeared at Brigitte’s feet. “Mrrow?” It pushed its face against her leg. Brigitte scooped the cat right up and gave it a scratch under the chin. It purred contentedly, then rolled over in her arms to offer her its belly.

Hana watched with great interest as Brigitte’s strong but gentle fingers stroked the cat with love and tenderness. Her own flesh tingled as she watched.

The cat’s pupils dilated as it studied Hana, but it did not attack her or run away. It must have felt totally safe in Brigitte’s arms.

“So where’s your dad?” Hana looked around nosily. The little house was full of cute, quaint little decorations – and a _lot_ of cat memorabilia. It had a lived-in feel and smell, with the scent of cooking still clinging to the carpeting from nights past and several pairs of shoes piled by the doorway. She wasn’t sure why, but for some reason it was triggering her hoarding instinct harder than usual – normally she only went for shiny, expensive or otherwise-appealing-looking items, but in this house suddenly she wanted everything. She wanted the rug with the mud stains and cooking smell. She wanted the family assortment of shoes and jackets strewn on a rack nearby. She even wanted the cat.

“Oh, he’s not home right now. Actually nobody is.” Brigitte set the cat down and let it wander off. With her arms free she crossed them and leaned against a doorway that led deeper into the house. “Wanna see my room?”

“Sure.”

Brigitte led her to a red door plastered with stickers, signs in some other language, and photographs of the cat Hana had seen as well as multiple others. “I’ve, uh, had this room since I was little.” She chuckled, clearly embarrassed by something Hana must have been missing.

“What language is this?” Hana asked, laying a finger on one of the signs.

“Swedish!” Brigitte pointed to herself. “You couldn’t tell?”

“Um, no?”

Brigitte opened the door and all but dragged Hana inside. The first thing Hana noticed about the room, before even looking at its contents, was its overpowering scent. All dens held a concentrated scent from their inhabitants, and this one was no exception. Immediately Hana gravitated toward Brigitte’s bed. Beds always held the most interesting of den scents, she’d found. She climbed up onto it and sniffed the blankets. The powerful mix of skin scent, hair oil and hormones was like a rush straight to the head. “Whoa.” She drew back, momentarily overtaken by the strength of it. “You’ve had a _lot_ of sex in this bed.”

“No, I haven’t.” Brigitte opened her curtains, warming the room with watery sunlight. “Like, at all actually.”

“Then what’s this smell?”

“Are you gonna smell everything in my room and then try to figure stuff out about me that way? Because you know you can just ask, right?”

“Dragons don’t ask questions they can answer with their noses.”

“Even though your nose gave you the wrong answer?”

“What’s the right answer?”

Brigitte’s cheeks flushed slightly. “I have a lot of free time, okay?”

“What does that have to – _ohh_.” Hana nodded dumbly. “…Gotcha.”

Brigitte’s cheeks remained pink as she sat down on the bed beside Hana. “So…ta-da.” She spread her arms out to encompass the small, messy room.

“I like your hoard.” Hana nudged her foot into a pile of clothes that smelled a whole bunch like Brigitte. “I’m more a fan of shiny things, but soft can be nice too.”

“Oh yeah. My laundry hoard.” Brigitte laughed. Hana laughed too, though she didn’t really understand what was funny.

Brigitte’s den was oddly cute. She had a board on one wall that was covered in photographs, most of her with various redheads, a blonde woman and a short blonde man. The other walls were covered in posters of humans in dramatic poses holding musical instruments. _SABATON: SWEDISH EMPIRE TOUR_. _Turisas We Ride Together European Tour_. _AMON AMARTH – JOMSVIKING_. Between the posters sat a bookshelf lined with technical-looking guidebooks. An empty, cat-sized bed coated in a layer of orange fur sat on top of it.

It felt cozy. It felt like a home.

Hana watched Brigitte as she straightened her blankets. “This place is nice,” she said to her. “Do all human houses look like this inside?”

“Somewhat like this. Everyone’s a little different, but yeah.”

Hana rested her chin on a blanket. “I probably used to have a home like this.”

“Before Satya took you?”

“Yeah. Well that wasn’t really me, I guess, but…”

Brigitte reached out and lightly stroked Hana’s hair. Hana initially tensed, but eased as Brigitte’s hand slipped down and propped Hana’s chin up.

“You are one angsty little dragon,” she said with a smirk.

Hana stared into her eyes for a long moment. They were warm, a rich brown like the cave walls she’d grown so familiar with.

Brigitte’s smile grew. They were both smiling then, though Hana with some uncertainty. Brigitte seemed wholly comfortable with their closeness.

Hana leaned in and gave her a small lick on the cheek. “Eww, gross.” Brigitte wiped her face with the back of her hand.

Hana pulled back, indignant. “Well how do humans show affection?”

As if waiting for just that question Brigitte took Hana’s face in both hands and pulled her close again. Before Hana could even process it Brigitte’s lips were suddenly pressed against hers. Softness and sweetness flooded her senses as she tasted human in a very different way than what she was used to. She dug her claws into Brigitte’s thighs and practically melded against her. Brigitte’s powerful arms wrapped around Hana’s waist, sending an odd but enticing tingle down Hana’s body.

She pushed Brigitte down onto the bed and sank her claws into the blanket on either side of her. “Whoa.” Brigitte did not resist her. “Hello.”

A guttural growl rumbled from Hana’s throat. “Mine,” she snarled.

The other girl’s easy smile remained in place. “I’m okay with that.”

Hana had no idea what to do – she only knew she wanted to do _something_. Her last body had been equipped for impregnating. This one couldn’t do that.

“…I don’t know what to do,” she admitted with a note of fluster.

Brigitte pulled her back down and kissed her again. Hana melted into her arms, basking in the contact. Entwined together on the bed, Brigitte ran one hand down Hana’s waist and the other through her hair. Eyes closed, Hana cuddled contentedly up against Brigitte’s warm, soft body.

_Humans are food!_ Her instincts were screaming at her. _You’re degrading yourself!_

_I’m lonely._ Her small but stubborn human side persisted. _I’ve been lonely for so long._

She leaned in and tasted Brigitte again, this time nibbling at her throat. Brigitte nodded, her breathing growing heavier. As Hana was playing with her Brigitte murmured, “You’re really cool, Hana.”

Hana eased her mouth off Brigitte’s neck. “You like me?”

“Yeah? I wouldn’t be kissing you if I didn’t.”

Hana reached down and cupped Brigitte’s face, stroking it with her thumb as Brigitte had done to her. “I used to have a whole bunch of consorts. I don’t think any of them actually liked me.”

“That was in your old life?”

“Yeah.”

“Before you were human.”

“I’m not human.”

Brigitte rested her palm on Hana’s soft, fleshy cheek, one of the few areas of her body where she did not have scales. Hana felt her face warm, though with her dark grey skin she was hopeful Brigitte couldn’t see the blush.

“You’re human where it counts.”

Hana nestled deeper into Brigitte’s arms. Brigitte kissed the top of her head a few times.

“I don’t want to mate,” Hana murmured. “I’d just like to hang out like this for now.”

“Totally fine by me.” She pulled up a blanket and settled it over them. Hana hadn’t had a blanket since she was an infant. It was comforting, just like Brigitte’s presence in general.

She had expected to spend the day hanging out with her newfound friend. Instead she remained cuddled with her until her eyes closed and she gradually drifted to sleep.

* * *

 

Sometime during their midday nap Hana must have reverted back to her dragon form. They woke up to a _SNAP_ – and then the bed broke underneath them. Its wooden base gave way under Hana’s weight, plunging the mattress and its inhabitants to the floor.

Hana clambered off Brigitte. “I didn’t mean to do that!”

Brigitte rubbed her head. “Eh, that bedframe was ancient anyway. I could barely fit in it anymore.” She yawned and stretched her beefy arms outward. “I’ll build another one.”

_Brigitte?_ A voice echoed outside the room. _What’s all that–_

Both girls froze as a tiny man with a huge blonde beard appeared in the doorway. He cut himself off when he caught sight of Hana. She was sitting on her haunches by that point, her spiked tail flicking idly back and forth. Under the man’s gaze she stopped her tail from moving as well.

The man lifted a giant, claw-like hand and pointed it at her. His mouth was open, but he wasn’t saying any words.

“Hi, Papa.” Brigitte lifted a hand in greeting. “This is Hana.”

The man’s gaze slid from his human daughter to the dragon sitting on the splintered wood of her bedframe.

Hana uncertainly lifted a paw. “Hi.”

The man’s claw slowly moved to point at Brigitte. “Brigitte…what…is… _this_ …?!”

“It’s fine, Papa. She’s cool.”

The man started shouting in presumably Swedish. Brigitte switched as well, the two of them throwing their arms wildly as they argued. Hana watched their back and forth curiously. With her tail she traced a line from the top of the man’s head to where he amounted to on Brigitte. He barely passed her waist.

“What?!” By then the man was hopping up and down incredulously. “Whaaat?!?”

“Yep.” Brigitte folded her arms and smirked.

Clearly exasperated, but seemingly not exceptionally surprised by his daughter’s antics, the man lowered his head. “Why, sweetie, why do you put me through this?? I’m an old man. I can’t keep up with all this!”

Brigitte nudged Hana. “Can you show him your human form?”

At that moment Hana felt something she had never really felt before. She swallowed hard under the tiny man’s harsh stare. Normally transformation was a thoughtless process for her, second nature. But with this human man and Brigitte both watching her Hana suddenly found it a struggle to change back. Her skin contracted and shrank, so tight it was almost painful. _This is what I normally do first, right? The – the skin? Or wait, is it…how could I forget how to do it??_

She managed to shrink herself smaller than Brigitte, which was at least a step in the right direction, she concluded.

“Uh…” Brigitte picked up one of her paws. “I said human, not smaller dragon.”

“O-oh. I’m not in my human form yet?” She laughed loudly. “I mean, I’m just messing around! Haha! Let me just…do it for real this time…”

She glared at her paws, willing them to change into hands. Just beyond her focus was Brigitte’s father, still staring her down. “ _Gah_ –”

“You okay?” Brigitte eyed her with concern.

“Haha, yeah! Yep!” She grunted and growled, desperately urging her paws to change. They shifted partway, giving her webbed, scaly fingers with massive claws. “Heh!” She must have been at least halfway changed, because she could feel sweat beginning to leak out of her mammalian skin. “Usually a lot easier than this…”

“I think Hana needs a minute.” Brigitte pushed her father out and shut the door behind him.

With the human man gone Hana found she had no trouble changing back. “That’s never happened to me before.”

“It’s okay. He wasn’t gonna be okay with it today either way. My dad’s kind of a stickler, but he always comes around in the end.”

“Why’s he so…” Hana stopped herself, realizing it was probably rude to ask that.

Brigitte chuckled. “Yeah, don’t ask him that. He’s really sensitive about it.”

“Is he your real dad?”

“Yup! Genetics is weird.”

Hana couldn’t imagine Satya only being half her size. Part of the whole having-a-parent-figure thing was being able to cuddle up next to their giant body and feel protected by their bigness. Although, she supposed, Brigitte was probably big enough to defend herself from most threats.

“Hey.” Brigitte put an arm out to block Hana before she could leave the bedroom. Hana looked up at her, puzzled. “Don’t be nervous, okay? I met your giant fire-breathing dragon mom and _I_ managed to hold it together.”

At that Hana smiled a little. “Yeah, that’s true. And Satya can be pretty scary.”

Feeling a little better then, Hana let Brigitte lead her back out into the hallway.

* * *

 

Brigitte’s father sat glaring at Hana from across the kitchen table. Hana tapped her claws together and avoided eye contact.

Brigitte set a mug of something down in front of each of them. It smelled repugnantly strong and was boiling hot. Neither Hana nor Brigitte’s father touched it.

“So,” Brigitte tried as she sat down beside Hana, “how was your day, Papa?”

Her father only grunted in response.

Brigitte took a gulp of her hot, stinking drink. “Have you ever had coffee?” she asked Hana.

“Coffee?” She picked the mug up and sniffed its contents again. “Does it make you cough?”

Brigitte laughed. “No, but if you’ve never had it I’d recommend only drinking a little. Or maybe I should brew you some decaf instead.”

“I can handle ‘coffee’.” She took a sip and practically gagged. _What the heck is this made of?!?_ Her eyes watered at the steamy bitterness of the concoction.

“…Judging by that face I’m not sure you can.”

Against all odds Hana somehow managed to swallow and keep down the mouthful of bitter stink water. “Mmm.” She grimaced. “Good.”

“You’re full of crap, but thanks for trying it.” Brigitte took the mug and dumped the rest down the sink.

Mr. Lindholm was still staring her down. Hana tried to remain stoic and civil in spite of her nerves. _Can’t blow this._ _Gotta act like a human._

“So my father’s an engineer,” Brigitte tried again. “He builds all sorts of cool things.”

“Oh…neat.” Hana tapped her nails on the table. She had no idea how to maintain a conversation about human hobbies. “I, um…”

Brigitte nodded encouragingly for her to continue.

“I…the, um…the other day I…found a really cool…rock. In a riverbed.”

“Oh…nice!” Brigitte sat back and folded her arms. “I’m sure you must have a lot of cool things in your hoard.”

Now _that_ was something Hana could talk about. “Oh yeah! As far as I know I’ve actually got one of the biggest hoards in the badlands. I mostly collect shiny things like gold, silver, cool weapons like swords and knives, fancy mirrors–”

“So did my daughter pull you out of some crater somewhere?”

Surprised by the question, Hana stopped. “What?”

“Isn’t that what they say about dragons?” the man grunted. “They’re born in magma craters or something?”

Brigitte leaned over to her. “This is his way of making conversation,” she whispered.

“Oh. Um…” Hana hesitated. “Well actually I was born from a…”

The man stared at her, clearly not impressed.

“…Well technically there _was_ fire involved, so, yeah, I guess?”

“Hana was born human, actually.”

That elicited a reaction from the man. “Eh? How’s that possible? Wait, you’re not _cursed_ or something–”

“No, I’m not cursed. I just have a dragon soul inside of me.”

“Oh, well is that all??”

“I was stolen from a human village and then offered to the spirit of an ancient dragon king by a dragoness who really wanted a kid but couldn’t have one. She took me and breathed fire on me and bathed me in lava until I was nice and crusty. And that’s how I was made.”

The man stared at her.

“…What?”

“So yeah, it’s a heck of an origin story,” Brigitte said. “What do you think, Papa?”

“Hmph. I’d say you were crazy if I wasn’t looking right at her.”

“Hana can do all sorts of cool stuff,” Brigitte continued. “You should show Papa your fire breath!”

Brigitte’s father raised an eyebrow.

“Oh. Uh, okay.” Hana cleared her throat to generate a bit of the natural igniter fluid her flame sac produced. Then she lifted her chin, pursed her lips, and exhaled a tiny bloom of fire.

“So cool,” Brigitte murmured.

Ever the showdragon, Hana conjured up a bigger flame. It licked outward and crackled as it consumed the cool air of the cottage.

“Huh,” Brigitte’s father said once Hana finally extinguished her breath, “pretty impressive. Nothing I can’t do, though.”

“What? Humans can’t breathe fire.”

To her surprise the man actually chortled. “You want to bet on that?”

“He’s not bluffing,” Brigitte added.

“Well then I want to see!”

The man got up from the table and trudged off down the hall. Hana followed him, eager to see a human attempt the signature breath of a flame-born dragon.

They exited the cottage out a back door and came upon a tiny shed. The man grabbed a can of something molten-smelling off a work bench full of smoking tools, then threw his head back and took a swig of it. Moments later he burped out a stream of fire that nearly singed Hana’s hair off. “Whoa!” Hana leapt back. “That’s crazy!”

In stepping back she bumped into Brigitte. Brigitte gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder before coming around to her side. “Yeah, Papa’s pretty cool. Gross, but cool.”

“That’s right. Where do you think _you_ got it from?”

“The coolness or the grossness?”

They both shared a laugh. Hana tried to join in, but something was creeping up in the shadows of her heart. Her foot-claws dug into the dirt and her forked tongue flicked out of her mouth.

_I want a Papa…_

Brigitte and her father continued their banter, switching back and forth between English and Swedish. Hana’s eyes darted between the two of them.

“Your poor mother’s going to have a fit when she gets home. The bed will be the _least_ of her concerns.”

“But she has another dedicated pie fan now! You should’ve seen it, it was just like that time…”

_Ahaha, of course! Or the time…_

_Right?? I’d never seen someone so…_

Their conversation fell away from Hana’s ears. She took a step back, and settled her hind legs into the dirt.

Brigitte must have finally noticed something was up. She turned to Hana with a puzzled expression. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

By that point Hana was mostly back in her dragon form. Her tongue flicked out between her lips. Then she bared her fangs.

“ ** _I_** _want…_ ” She fixed her eyes on Brigitte, but swept them over to her father as well. “ ** _My_** _friend… **my**_ _Papa…”_

“Hana, what the heck are you–”

Hana leapt into the air. With her powerful claws she grabbed Brigitte with one foot and her father with the other. Their shouts and squirms did not deter her. _“I want everything you have!”_

She beat her wings furiously, but quickly realized she was struggling to gain any altitude with the weight of two humans added to her own.

Brigitte jabbed her in the underbelly. Hana hissed and recoiled – in the process Brigitte was able to free herself. She landed in the patchy grass a stretch from her cottage. Immediately Hana swooped in and tried to grab her again, but before she could halt herself Brigitte grabbed her mace and struck Hana dead on the snout with it.

Hana cried out and drew back. She then settled a paw on her nose. It smelled mildly of blood.

Brigitte’s father crawled out from under her, panting. Brigitte instantly stepped between them. “Hana, what the _fuck_??”

“I knew you shouldn’t have brought that thing here,” her father muttered. “Should never have trusted a damn _dragon!_ ”

Hana growled at Brigitte. “I want what you have! I don’t have a Papa, or a house, or a bedroom, or any of that stuff! And I want it all!”

She expected Brigitte to fight back, to be angry with her like the pie incident. But Brigitte did not look overtly angry. No, instead of angry she looked oddly sad.

“The more you give a dragon, the more they want,” she murmured. “Insatiable greed…”

Hana tilted her head.

Brigitte took a few steps forward and gingerly rested her palms on Hana’s wounded snout.

“I don’t know if this friendship between us can ever really work, Hana.”

Hana clawed at the dirt. “What? What do you mean? Why wouldn’t it work??”

Brigitte was frowning then. Her soft human lips sagged deeply downward. One hand caressed Hana’s face gently, her compassion still evident in her touch.

“You’re not a bad dragon, Hana. But you _are_ a dragon. It’s just the way you are, and…I don’t know. Maybe we’re just too different for each other.”

“B-but…” Hana stared at her in disbelief. “You’re my only friend.”

Brigitte exhaled. Turning, she wandered over to her father, who was keeping his distance from Hana. “I know, but I can’t have you endangering my family. It’s not fair to them.”

“But I just wanted to–”

“I get it, Hana. You want a family, too.”

“I can act like a human! I can!” Hana scrambled to regain her human form. “Look, I can!” As before she struggled to transform herself. She ended up blending herself into a mess somewhere between dragon and human. Both and neither.

Brigitte watched with that deep frown as Hana desperately tried to change herself. “See? I look like a human… _agh…_ ” The rough transformation was painful – her eyes prickled with salty human tears. “P-please don’t leave me…”

Brigitte said nothing. Her father muttered something in Swedish.

Hana couldn’t focus enough to change. Stuck halfway through her transformation she struggled to crawl away on half-feet, half-paws. “…Maybe I should just go,” she mumbled, her voice cracking in spite of her best attempts to keep it neutral.

Brigitte spoke softly to her father as Hana was walking away. Gritting her teeth, Hana opened her wings and tried to take off – but she found she could not leave the ground. Something was holding her by the foot.

Brigitte tugged on the chain she’d wrapped around Hana’s leg. “Wait.” She immediately unraveled the chain. “Don’t go yet.”

“But you just said you–”

“Papa, can we talk in private for a minute?”

“Are you crazy?? I’m not leaving my youngest daughter alone with a _dragon_ –”

“Papa. Please.”

The man looked about to argue, but he slowly deflated. With an exaggerated sigh he said, “If you’re not back inside in two minutes–”

“Got it. Thank you.”

The moment he was gone Brigitte took Hana’s face in her hands. Hana lowered her gaze to the ground.

“Maybe I really shouldn’t hang out with hum–” Her words were cut off by Brigitte pressing her lips against Hana’s once again. Her massive dragon maw made Brigitte seem so small the second time. Much more delicate than she presented herself.

No longer focusing on it, Hana slipped back into her human form with ease.

“I don’t know if this can work the way things are,” Brigitte murmured as she parted their mouths just a bit. “But I like you, Hana. I’d like it to work…”

“What if I try _really_ hard not to be greedy?”

Brigitte shook her head. “I can’t ask you to change your nature for me.”

“But I don’t _want_ to be greedy. Greed is how I died in my last life. It’s why everyone hated me to begin with. I mean, I was even born into this crappy hybrid existence because of greed – Satya’s greed, because she wanted a dragonling so bad she didn’t care how it happened. I hate it…”

“Hmm.” Brigitte folded her arms. “You know, I used to be a pretty grabby little kid. I mean, nothing on _that_ scale, but I used to steal my father’s tools and hide them in my own toolbox, and I’m the youngest, so stealing from all my older siblings was par for the course.”

“How did you change?”

Brigitte turned and yanked the shed door up. Hana’s eyes went wide as she gazed upon all manner of shiny weapons and tools. Brigitte unhooked a massive shield from the inside of the door – the one that had deflected Hana’s attack the very first time they’d met. She strapped it to her arm and raised it high.

“I went on a journey with my mentor. We traveled the land doing good deeds and protecting the innocent from the wicked. It was really life-changing for me.”

Hana studied the shield. “Where would I find a ‘mentor’…?”

“You could meet mine! I bet you could learn a lot from him, maybe even more than I did.”

“Would I go on a journey too?”

“I don’t know. Want to ask him?”

“Where does he live?”

“Just a few towns over.” A tiny smile warmed her words. “We could take the walk over together.”

Hana reached out and touched Brigitte’s face with her claws. “You really think I could change?”

Brigitte mirrored her gesture, but with one thumb she lifted the side of Hana’s face, forming a lopsided smile that quickly gave way to a real one. Hana couldn’t help but giggle at the contact.

“Hana, you’ve changed since I met you just a few days ago. That’s not even a question.”

“Heh. I guess that’s true. A few days ago I would’ve eaten a human for touching me.”

“See? There you go.”

Hana reached up and settled her hand on Brigitte’s, who was still gently holding the side of Hana’s face. “So when would we go?”

“Want to visit him now?’

“What about your dad?”

“Oh, right. Him.” Brigitte reached over and pushed open the glass of the nearest window on the cottage. Leaning inside, she shouted “HanaAndIAreGoingToVisitReinhardtOkayBye!”

_“What?!? Brigitte, what the hell do you think you’re–”_

With that she closed the window again. “All right, let’s go!”

Hana fell into step beside her as they took off together, ignoring the shouts of Brigitte’s father in the growing distance. “So what’s this mentor guy like? Is he like your, um, dad?” She tried, and failed, to temper the disdain in her voice when mentioning the man.

“Oh no. He’s…you’ve gotta meet him. You’ll understand when you do.”

“Uh. Okay.”

Brigitte’s hand settled into Hana’s claws as they walked. Hana gave it a squeeze.

Maybe she really _could_ be more than just a greedy old dragon.

* * *

 

“Ah! A real dragon! I’ve never seen one so close!”

The human “Reinhardt” was a gigantic man with a voice as loud as a full-grown dragon’s. His body was covered in scars. Hana assumed that, as in dragon culture, that indicated he was a veteran of many battles.

Despite his intimidating appearance, however, Hana was not fearful of Reinhardt. He was large and loud, but his mannerisms were gentle and friendly. When she first met him Hana puffed her scaly chest out in an attempt to appear as cool and fierce as possible. Reinhardt had only laughed at that.

“How does your _father_ feel about this?” he asked Brigitte, wearing a wise grin.

“He’s handling it about as well as you’d expect.”

“Ah, that old codger will come around. Now then”–he clapped a massive hand on Hana’s back–“you were interested in traveling with us?”

Hana gave a small nod. “Brigitte says you can teach me to be less greedy.”

“Let me tell you this, my friend.” He led her deeper into the old house he apparently called home. In the heart of the little cottage was a fireplace with a mantle full of photographs. Hana’s eyes drifted over them. Each one featured Reinhardt with another human, or sometimes multiple humans, and they all looked very happy. One photograph featured a young redheaded girl covered in grease sitting on Reinhardt’s shoulders. _That must be Brigitte._ “Our legacy is not the _things_ we leave behind in this world. It is our _deeds_ , what we do for our fellow man – or dragon.” He laughed his raucous laugh again.

“Deeds?” Hana licked the sharp tips of her teeth. “Like, the deed to a big house that you could fill with stuff?”

“No, no. Our deeds, as in the good things we do for others. _That_ is what you are remembered by, not how much wealth you have accumulated.”

“That’s not how it works for dragons.”

“Do you know the dragon with the largest hoard?”

“No?”

“But can you name a dragon who has done you a good deed?”

“Well, Satya looks after me, and lets me stay in her territory…”

“So you see then that you remember not the richest dragon, but the one that has enriched _your_ life.”

“…Huh.” Hana stared down at her claws. “I never really thought about it like that.”

Reinhardt strode past her, over to Brigitte. “Brigitte is a good judge of character. If she finds you worthy of her time then so do I.” He half-turned, making a fist. “So, if you wish, then we shall name you an honorary Crusader…Junior!”

Hana made a face. “’Junior’?”

“Don’t take it personally,” Brigitte whispered. “He considers me a Crusader Junior, too.”

“Ah, becoming a Crusader is no easy feat, my friends. You must _earn_ the title!”

“Yeah yeah, and we have to be able to out-drink you,” Brigitte added with a smirk. Hana didn’t understand what was funny, but Reinhardt got a good laugh out of it.

“So I guess I’ll go home and tell Satya,” Hana eventually said. “When will we leave?”

“We shall set off whenever you feel prepared, young Hana. I am always ready to undertake a noble quest!”

Part of the reason Hana suspected she felt an immediate sense of comfort around this human was that he talked like Satya – pointlessly formal and verbose, like they were giving speeches. It was silly, but she had little else to cling to amidst all the strange newness.

Thinking of Satya, she realized it was quite late and Satya was probably wondering where she was. “I’ll go now, then, and come back…maybe tomorrow?”

“Sounds good to me,” Brigitte said.

“Of course!” Reinhardt grabbed both of them by the shoulders. “This will be fun!”

* * *

 

“A ‘noble quest’?” Satya eyed Hana as Hana filled a knapsack with some of her favorite hoarded treasures. “With humans?”

“Brigitte said they can teach me to be less greedy. And I don’t know if you remember, but greed is what got me killed in my last life.”

“You gonna carry all that with you?” Fareeha watched her stuff her stolen backpack with golden trinkets, silver bars and handfuls of coins.

Hana slowed her stuffing of the bag. “This is my most treasured stuff.”

Fareeha shrugged. “Okay.”

Hana glanced between her bag and Fareeha. “Why? You think I shouldn’t bring it?”

“Bring whatever will make you feel comfortable, Hana my dear.” Satya knelt beside her and helped her hold the bag open.

“Yeah, but all that’s gonna get heavy.” Fareeha joined them, looking down into the bag. “If anything I’d just bring the coins so you can buy food and stuff you’ll need.”

“’Buy’?”

“Yeah, you know…” At Hana’s blank stare she said, “…you don’t know.”

Satya was looking back and forth between the two of them.

“…Just bring some coins. I’m sure the humans you’re with will explain it all to you.”

Hana poured an assortment of coins into her bag, replacing some of the heavier treasures. Amidst the rush of metal pouring into the sack she heard a tiny sniffle. She glanced up. “Oh, Satya–”

Satya crushed Hana in her spiny arms. “I am just so proud of you, my sweet girl. Look how far you have come from your Destroyer days.”

“ _Gack._ ” Hana stuck her tongue out and feigned being choked.

“I know you will do well.” Satya kissed all over her face. “Be safe!”

“I will.” Hana pulled her backpack onto her shoulders. “’Kay then. I guess I’m off.”

“I thought you were leaving tomorrow?”

“I want to go now. I need some time to myself first.”

Satya released her from her grasp. “Very well. Until we meet again, then?”

Hana offered her a tiny smile. “I’ll come back. Gotta make sure no one’s stealing my stuff, anyway.”

“I’m gonna steal it,” Fareeha said.

Satya kissed her on the forehead. “We will await your safe return, and to see what kind of noble and generous dragon returns to us!”

* * *

 

“I’m looking forward to this.” Brigitte nuzzled Hana’s cheek with her own. They sat with their legs dangling off the wall that guarded Brigitte’s village.

“…Me too,” Hana replied after a pause.

“You sure?”

“Of course.” Hana kept her shoulders rigid. “I’m not scared.”

“Well I would hope not.” Brigitte chuckled. “There’s nothing to be afraid of!”

“You and Reinhardt should be afraid, maybe.”

“Pfft. Not in the least.”

“But I’m violent and unpredictable. You don’t know what I’ll do next.”

“Oh yeah? What might you do next?”

Hana attempted a spontaneous kiss as Brigitte had done to her earlier. It was sloppy, but Brigitte smiled and welcomed Hana into her embrace.

“I think I like kissing,” Hana murmured against Brigitte’s lips.

“I think I like kissing _you_.”

Hana giggled. Brigitte took hold of her and swept her low, showering kisses down on her face.

“Maybe humans aren’t so bad after all.” She squeaked as Brigitte buried her face in Hana’s throat and started smooching her neck. “Ah…yeah, definitely not that bad…”

All the years she’d given Satya crap for being attracted to humans, and now look at her.

She nestled into Brigitte with a sigh.

Life would certainly be easier if she were merely a human herself…but maybe they could make things work.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will be continued in a third series entry :)


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